Vascular Institute of Virginia

Regarding PAE ( prostate artery embolization) I'm very pleased to have discovered Dr. Bagla and the Vascular Institute in Woodbridge. I was suffering from BPH with most of the classical symptoms of urgency, low urine retention, sexual function diminished etc. After initial contact, it took about a year for me to arrange the procedure, partly because insurance would have nothing to do with this procedure. So I opted to pay out of pocket and I would say it's one of the better medical/dollar outlays I have experienced. Expensive, yes but seldom have I experienced recovering from a procedure with 95% of the symptoms relieved after 2-3 months. I can now function close to normally with regard to urination. Sexual function has returned to 75% of what if formerly was and I would guess that the loss is more connected to aging than anything else. The procedure itself was handled very professionally over the course of 6 hours. It was necessary for me to remain in the clinic pretty much still for several hours because the closure mechanism didn't work. There were several days of "discomfort" after the procedure but after that the healing progressed quickly and I was pretty much full functional after a month. The only advice I would offer traveling patients is to allow a couple of days of rest following the procedure. I tried to catch a plane the next morning (west coast) and I would say it ranks number one in uncomfortable flights. (no fault to the airline).